Jharsuguda: Recently, the Union government claimed that the toilet coverage in the Jharsuguda district (rural) in the state has reached 100 per cent and declared it to be an Open Defecation Free (ODF) district on the government’s sanitation monitoring portal. However, ground realities differ.
A visit to the rural areas of the district revealed an altogether different tale. Jampada, inhabited by around 40 households and situated merely 14 km from the Jharsuguda district headquarters, is still deprived of several basic civic amenities. Contrary to this, reports on paper claim that 100 per cent households have toilets. It may seem incredible, but the fact is that villagers here have not used the toilets constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission (rural) even for once.
The deprived villages cited many reasons behind their decision to shun the use of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission. “We do not even have a source of piped water in our village. The only tube-well is situated outside the village and it serves all our water needs. What is pathetic is that even this tubewell for a toss during dry seasons,” Sunil Hadia, a labourer from the village told Orissa POST.
Hadia added that people need to fetch water from the tube-well or from other nearby villages for toilet usage. Hence, they have opted for defecating in the open close to a pond situated near to their village. Most people from the village echoed the same view to substantiate their decision to defecate in the open in this ‘ODF’ district of Odisha, raising questions about the government’s claims.
This village not only reels under the paucity of water, but many civic amenities too. While an electric pole has been installed not more than 100 meters from the village, electricity is yet to reach the village. Villagers also complained that while toilets were built under the Swachh Bharat Mission, government officials did not care to provide them with amenities to ensure that the toilets are used by people.
“Ours is a neglected village. Villagers are compelled to travel to nearby villages to fetch water during dry spells. Often, the solitary tube-well ditches us. It either gives drops of water or refuses to give water at all. Under such circumstances, how can the people have the luxury of using a toilet, especially when you have to bring water from a source located one km away,” asked Dukho Khodia, a 44-year-old farmer from Jampada.
Moreover, NGOs that worked on the project told this correspondent that assistance for toilet construction for the households was given as per the survey done in 2014. As a result, some villagers and households were excluded from the beneficiaries’ list. While declaring the district ODF, the government did not even consider the cases of such people.
When contacted, Roopa Mishra, MD of Swachh Bharat Mission in Odisha, refused respond to calls from Orissa POST seeking her side of the story on the issue.
Manish Kumar, OP
